volumn 23 number 1

Image of first page of Northwest Bulletin: Family and Child Health

Population-Based Efforts to End the Cycle of Abuse and Violence in Our Communities

The winter 2009 issue explores exciting and innovative efforts to address intimate partner violence in the Northwest and Alaska. In order to end the cycle of intimate partner violence and address its devastating effects, a full spectrum of prevention strategies—primary through tertiary—must be adopted. Articles in this issue highlight projects for adolescent dating violence prevention (primary prevention), early identification through screening for intimate partner violence in health care settings (secondary prevention), and systems-level, coordinated community efforts to better serve children and their families (tertiary prevention)

In this issue:

  • Jill Murray, a leading expert on the subject of teenage dating abuse, discusses the reasons behind today's high rates and what can be done to help teenage girls end abusive relationships and reestablish a sense of personal empowerment.
  • Kelly Miller highlights the successes of the Idaho Teen Dating Violence Awareness & Prevention Project, an education and prevention project to eliminate the prevalence and cultural acceptance of dating violence. She also includes recommendations for what a public health campaign needs to be effective in changing adolescent behaviors.
  • Erin Galvin and Deborah Greenleaf discuss the importance of routine screening for intimate partner violence in health care settings in creating a safe place where clients can disclose these experiences. A two-year Public Health - Seattle and King County pilot project to develop standardized screening tools and procedures led to the realization that public health staff had their own experiences with intimate partner violence, and that in providing careful and sensitive responses to staff they were modeling a system of care they wished to provide to clients.
  • Joan DuBuque and Deborah Greenleaf describe the development of the King County Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment Coordinate Response Guideline. The guideline serves as a resource to help providers respond more effectively to the needs of children and families in domestic violence cases.

State reports highlight successful community-based prevention programs, such as awareness campaigns, social norm campaigns, and bystander training. The Oregon State Report describes the important contribution empowerment evaluation has made to the state's initiative to prevent sexual violence.